Vancouver-based company Axiom Zen releases CryptoKitties, an online game built on the Ethereumblockchain, giving the breakthrough technology a friendlier appeal to it.
The game involves collecting, breeding, and trading cartoon cats, each cat having unique electronic “DNA.” According to Elsa Wilk, the company’s marketing director, part of the project’s launching was to educate people who are new to blockchain. More than $1 million worth of transactions were incurred just days after the game’s release.
Upon launching, the company released 250 “Generation Zero” cats or those virtual kittens that have no parents. These cats would then breed to produce the next generations and so on.
Collectors start by purchasing their own virtual cats. The goal of the game is to collect as many cats as possible by either purchasing or through breeding. Breeding could be done by pairing two of the collector’s own cats, or by siring. Transactions are done with ether, a payment tool used in the Ethereum marketplace.
As with other collectibles, the kittens have different values depending on the generation they belong to and how unique they are. Aside from having a serial number, each cat has cattributes. Cattributes could be rare or common.The more unique cattributes a kitty has, the greater its value.
This user-friendly game proves to be a great way to introduce the technology behind Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to those who just find it too complex. According to Mack Flavelle of Axiom Zen, when people discuss blockchain, they discuss data sovereignty and other stuff that are very far from what people experience in their daily lives. But when it comes to owning, collecting, and breeding cute little virtual versions of our feline friends, many people can actually relate and enjoy.
Total sales have reached a total of over $17 million dollars. The most expensive virtual cat sold so far was for $110,000 on the 6th of December. One man made more by trading CryptoKitties than he did in his IRA at a booming stock market.
With this, Axiom Zen co-founder RohamGharegozlou tweeted that they encourage people to actually try curating their own virtual kittens through the game rather than speculating about it.
Flavelle further cautioned the public that CryptoKitties is not an investment platform and is merely a game where some just managed to make a good amount of money from.
There are no comments at the moment, do you want to add one?
Write a comment